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Thursday, December 29, 2011

Travel Turkey

Start from Istanbul, counter-clockwise to Canakkale, down to Antalya, up to Cappadocia and back to Istanbul

Singaporeans love to travel and December is the travel peak period. After our free and easy trips for the last two Decembers, this year, we booked a packaged tour to Turkey during the NATAS fair.

My strategy for booking at NATAS: Do homework, stay focus and be early.

It is important to make a decision for the holiday destination. Prior to the fair, flip through the papers for travel advertisements and do a quick read up on the travel destination. This will gives a rough idea of the price and the itinerary. If you go to NATAS with a "any-place-will-do" thinking, you are likely to waste time "ding-donging" from one booth to another.

Stay focus! If you have been to a NATAS fair, you know just how crowded it can be and so many brochures to look at .... Headache! I usually focus on three travel agents, get their quotes/airlines/travel dates before making a decision. While we will try to get the best travel deal, price is not the deciding factor, since too low a price will either means sub-standard accommodation/food or lots of pushy sales at the destination.

Be early. Oh yes, even parking at the Expo is tricky if you are late. We waited at the queue for about 30 minutes before opening (not too bad ^_^) and for about another 15 minutes to get the tickets to the fair. Travel agents usually throw in freebies for early birds - discounts, free optional tours etc, to attract enough people to form travel group(s) in the shortest time. These freebies can be substantial. For my trip to Turkey, it translated to a savings of US$220 per pax!

Others:

1) Division of labour: Where possible, queue at different counters to collect your free bags, luggage, lucky draws to cut down on queuing time.

2) Check the best credit card(s) deal for payment. By the way, you can call your credit card company to extend your credit limit on a one-time basis.

Here are some beautiful pictures taken during our trip:

Topkapi Palace Museum

Ruins at ancient Pergamon (current Bergama)

Trojan Horse

Ancient marble city - Ephesus

Spectacular cascading terraces of limestone deposits at Pamukkale

Aspendos Theatre - the best preserved Roman theatre in Turkey

Beautiful sights at Cappadocia

One of the highlights of the trip - hot air balloon ride

Beautiful sunset in Istanbul

Except for the map of Turkey, these beautiful pictures were all taken by my hubby during our trip, and without any photo editing or touch up. I think he is really good. Thanks dear, for capturing all these beautiful and memorable moments ....^_^

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